SSB!

Posted on June 6, 2023 by Kevin

I’ve owned a radio with SSB and CW reception at least since I was 17 years old back in 1967, starting with the Lafayette Radio Electronics KT-340 I built from a kit.

I got into collecting shortwave radios a decade or so ago, and some of them had SSB that I don’t remember much about, including the Grundig G4000A, Grundig G5, Sangean ATS-505, and Grundig G3. They’re all sold now. Today I have several different SSB options, and that is the topic of this article.

Acronyms:

  • BFO – Beat Frequency Oscillator
  • CW – Carrier Wave
  • SSB – Single Sideband
  • LSB – Lower Sideband
  • USB – Upper Sideband
  • OSB – Oriented Strand Board

Single Sideband

SSB transmissions are used by amateur radio operators, marine communications, weather broadcasts and commercial radio operations. I’m primarily an international shortwave broadcast listener, but I occasionally listen to SSB, and at least some international broadcasting is on SSB.

A typical AM radio signal consists of a carrier wave that is in the center of the channel, and two sidebands carrying the audio content, one on a lower frequency (LSB) and one with higher (USB). The carrier in the middle carries no information, and the upper and lower sidebands each carry the same information. SSB saves energy by omitting the carrier and one sideband, and saves bandwidth with a channel only half as wide. It’s an elegant scheme, but it takes special equipment to decode it. SSB capability adds to the cost of radio equipment and it adds to the complexity of operation. CW has only the center carrier frequency with no sidebands and the same technology that allows reconstituting an SSB transmission also can generate a tone when detecting CW.

I’ll go over the operational characteristics of each of my SSB-enabled radios, and provide samples of SSB reception on that radio.

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Tecsun PL-660 vs PL-880

Posted on June 4, 2023 by Kevin

I’ve owned my Tecsun PL-660 since 2011 (12 years). It’s not the newest version of that radio –there have been firmware updates since then — but it works well, and is arguably the best radio I own. More recently the antenna started to pull apart from wear, but an OEM replacement was easy to find and easy to install. Now the radio looks and works good as new — the screen protector still on the display.

Tecsun PL-660 with screen protector (photo by the author)

But I like to try “new” things and I ordered a Tecsun PL-880 from Kaito USA on eBay. I say “new,” but this radio has been on sale for almost 10 years.

Tecsun PL-880 (2023 manufacture) ready for its first battery

Bullet point differences

The PL-880, like its predecessor, is a PLL synthesized analog-tuned radio with digital display; the PL-660 is a dual conversion superheterodyne radio and the PL-880 is a triple conversion superhet. Unlike the PL-660, the PL-880 employs a digital signal processor for decoding signals and controlling bandwidth. The PL-660 has 2 bandwidth settings (wide and narrow) compared with the PL-880 that has 4 values (9, 5, 3.5 and 2.5 kHz) for AM and 5 options (4, 3, 2.3, 1.2 and 0.5 kHz) for SSB.

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Blog or Die: The Movie

Posted on May 31, 2023 by Kevin

Subscribers to the Blog or Die! YouTube channel expect to see radios doing the talking, with some occasional titles to give context. In large part, those videos supplement the detailed reviews of radios and discussion of shortwave listening that appear here on Blog or Die!

I like the blog format and have written thousands of articles for my blogs, the oldest of which is Blog or Die, registered in 2004 (some of the content goes back at least to 1995). I notice, however, that the Blog or Die YouTube channel gets far more engagement than the Blog or Die website, so I’m going to try an experiment, taking my next Blog or Die shortwave radio blog post and reading it, probably verbatim, on my YouTube channel, with video supporting the article added.

My problem with YouTube (besides the advertising) is that you can’t search for text within a video. You can’t simply listen to the part you want, and skip the rest. The presenter sets the presentation order and the pace. I hope with my approach, it will be the best of both worlds: video for those inclined that way, and text for the ones looking just for specifics. (I love Todd Erbert’s videos, but if I see one more comparison of a radio to a pack of Iron Man playing cards, I’m gonna explode.) I’ve learned how to add chapters to my videos, marks on the time line where viewers can locate specific content. I did it with my Radio Friends at the Pond video, and now you can directly position to each of the radios featured. I’ll be doing that for my videos going forward when it makes sense.

Longer videos with voice over add a fair amount of extra work; video editing is more time consuming than writing text. I want the video to be decent looking and that requires attention to video production, something I’m not skilled at. At this point, I don’t intend to appear myself in the videos, but voice over static images is pretty lame. I’ll have to think more about that.

There will be some delay after the articles before the video version is published. My blog articles go through several revisions shortly after they are published (sometimes years later). I want a close-to-final version for the video, because while the blog is easy to change, you’re stuck with what you upload to YouTube unless you want to delete it entirely and start over. We’ll just have to see how it goes.

The first video in the series is likely be a “first impressions” look at the Tecsun PL-880 receiver that is scheduled to be delivered to me June 1. That day is also a day that a station of particular interest to me, Music 4 Joy, is on the air. If the radio arrives on time (it didn’t), I’ll give that a shot and compare reception with the PL-880 it to my venerable Tecsun PL-660. If it’s not available, perhaps I’ll compare reception of CFRX in Toronto — in the park?

[Update] The video is posted.

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PL-330 or D-808?

Posted on May 28, 2023 by Kevin

Someone asked me on my Blog or Die! YouTube channel which radio I would recommend to someone just getting started with the shortwave listening hobby, the Tecsun PL-330 or the XHDATA D-808. Both were briefly featured in the video, and the viewer thought they sounded about the same. This article is as much about how I compare radios as it is about the particular viewer question. For the reader who just wants the answer: there is no wrong answer. Both are fine radios. I personally like the way the PL-330 works better — but there’s a lot more to it than that!

Video briefly featuring the PL-330 and D-808 receivers

I did a long review of the XHDATA D-808 previously, but I haven’t done one on the Tecsun PL-330. I included the PL-330 in my article: Comparing 3 Tecsun radios: PL-660, PL-380, PL-330, but that article is more about features than performance. Consider this my PL-330 review.

Appearance

Both radios look good. I think of the word “professional” when I see the PL-330. I think the layout is sharp and the button labels easy to read (white on black). The oversized tuning and volume control knobs are accessible from both the front and the side (a particularly valuable feature if you’re trying to adjust the volume with one hand while holding a camera).

Tecsun PL-330 Receiver

The D-808 is larger. I got the gray model branded XHDATA rather than the black one branded Sihuadon.

XHDATA D-808 Receiver
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Music (?) 4 Joy

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Kevin

Music 4 Joy is a broadcast carried by a commercial station in Nauen, Germany, that consists of an hour of what some have called “techno” music with no announcements. It’s like random notes accompanied by a drum machine. The audio appears to be the same repetitive pattern, perhaps with small variations, on each of the 8 weekly appearances.

The broadcasts are Tuesday and Thursday only (times UTC):

  • 13:00-14:00 – 17670 kHz to Far East
  • 18:00-19:00 – 11790 kHz to East Africa
  • 18:30-19:30 – 9755 kHz to the Middle East
  • 20:00-21:00 – 9800 Khz to West Africa

My interest comes from the challenge of receiving a station that’s unusual and one that’s not broadcasting in my direction.

World map showing direction of Music 4 Joy broadcast, all pointing away from North America
Direction of the 20:00 UTC broadcast and me

It took 12 tries over 3 days for me to finally hear the broadcast, one to West Africa on 9800 kHz. I found the experience interesting, and the final capture exciting. I shot a video from the broadcast (much of the rest of the time the signal was poorer).

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Eton Elite Executive: Product Review

Posted on May 15, 2023 by Kevin

This is one of my top radios. It covers LW, MW, SW, FM and Air band. It has SSB and sync tuning; it has 700 station presets and is a solid performer. I think it’s an attractive product if you get it at the right price

Eton Elite Executive radio (Amazon product photo).

The Eton Elite Executive (AKA Executive Satellit — see notes at end), is one of my top three radios (the other two being my Tecsun PL-660 and PL-330). Radios of this caliber all get basically the same stations (the PL-330 doesn’t have Air band) and the differences have to be found in features, secondary functions, documentation and usability.

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Tecsun DR-920C Review

Posted on May 9, 2023 by Kevin

I’ve had a DR-920 for years, but the internal string connecting the tuning knob to the variable capacitor went off track in a way I couldn’t repair, so I replaced it with a DR-920C. It cost $25.99 from Amazon, but I had enough “points” so there was nothing out of pocket.

Tecsun DR-920C (Amazon product photo)

The DR-920C is very much like its predecessor, the DR-920. The only differences I can find have to do with the power switch and the alarm. The DR-920 had a POWER/SLEEP button and a LIGHT/SNOOZE button (see photo below). On the side was a slide switch to set the alarm to wake to RADIO or BUZZER. The DR-920C has LIGHT and SLEEP buttons and an ON/OFF slide switch on the side, no wake to buzzer.

Time and alarm setting is a bit unusual in that you have to press as many as 3 buttons at the same time. To set the alarm, for example, you must hold down both the AL SET button and the TIME SET buttons while pressing the HOUR or MINUTE button to change the value. I should add that this radio has a 12-hour clock only.

Tecsun DR-920 (photo by author)

The LIGHT button illuminates the display with a dim amber light that stays on for 10 seconds. The radio has a kickstand, a rotatable whip antenna 22 inches long, a 3v power input jack and an earphone jack. It’s a pretty basic radio.

The DR-920C is a rare breed these days, an analog radio with a digital display run by a frequency counter. The radio uses single-conversion superheterodyne technology, one in which the radio frequency signal is mixed with an internally generated signal, producing a 455 kHz “intermediate frequency,” which is then amplified and demodulated to create an audio signal that is amplified and sent to the speakers. The technology has been around a very long time; my first radio back in 1965 was a “superhet.” The inherent problem with this technology, and why today one would see it only on a cheaper shortwave radio, is images. A station is heard not only on its actual frequency, but if the signal is strong an image appears on its frequency +/- 455 kHz (more on that later).

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